Goodbye, Octaper

After the Fed declined to reduce the pace of its bond purchases at its September meeting, a bunch of folks predicted we’d see “Octaper”, meaning the tapering of purchases would come in October.Main
That now seems incredibly unlikely.

Between the likely government shutdown and the debt ceiling fight, it’s virtually impossible to imagine the Fed adding to the chaos by taking a tightening stance.

Oh, and SocGen points this out:

…a government shutdown could interrupt the flow of economic data. At such a critical time, when the Fed has made clear that any decision on tapering will be data dependent, that means no data, no decision.

Can’t have the Fed making such a crucial decision flying blind with no government data being reported.